And it doesn't stop there. One of the hazards of hanging around computers is you start seeing the world in terms of hardware and software. Once you start, you see them everywhere.

Cast your eyes over toward the stereo. See that haphazard collection of LP records, cassette tapes and audio CDs? It's really just three different kinds of storage media for holding musical data. (That's not even counting the 45 rpm singles and the old 78 rpm records stashed in my basement.)

What's more, each storage medium has its own special hardware needed to replay the data. Notice the ancient turntable, two tired- looking cassette decks and a CD player ready to rock 'n' roll.

Want some pictures with your sound? Then step over here to the closet, where you'll find a ghastly number of videotaped movies, kid shows, family events and more. Like other storage media, videotapes demand their own hardware, so right here we've got the obligatory VCR and television needed to view them.

Bad enough that all this cost a small fortune, but the stuff demands its own furniture too. In fact, I can't remember what cost more -- the storage media and hardware, or the wall units and shelves that keep it off the floor.

Think that's the end? Not even close. Check out these ring binders full of photographic negatives, a kind of storage medium for pictures. Some are even in the form of slides.

It takes a special piece of hardware -- a camera -- to record these photographic images. It takes even more hardware to print them, but fortunately they keep that junk at the Fotomat. Except for the slide projector and screen. Don't even get me started about Super 8 home movies.

And we're still not done. Because now we come to the biggest and most troublesome storage medium of all: paper. Massive piles of it. Newspapers. Junk mail. Checks. Birthday cards. Report cards. Calendars. Bills.

And books. Oh, do we have books. You probably never thought of a book as a kind of storage medium. But it surely is, and a big heavy one at that.

At least with paper, you don't need special hardware to view the data. Indeed, paper is data and display device rolled into one. But we do have printers and typewriters and pens and pencils, just in case you want to make more.

As for storage, well, nothing beats paper for variety. There are file cabinets, magazine racks, recycling bins, boxes and boxes and boxes, and shelves and shelves and shelves.

For some years now, the computer industry has been raving about ``convergence.''

This is the notion that stereos, televisions, telephones, cameras are all merging into a single display device known as a personal computer. In the end, it's all just data.

Make it all digital and you don't need dozens of different devices to capture it and display it. What a concept!

Imagine the convenience. Imagine the space. You want to read your mail, look at photos, watch TV, read a book, hear a song, call a friend, browse your financial records, see a video? Just fire up the ol' PC.

But for now, at least, convergence is on hold as the parade of storage media -- and the hardware to support it -- marches on.

Next up, a new kind of storage media called a DVD. It holds 4.7 gigabytes of data, or about seven times as much as a typical CD- ROM. Of course, it, too, requires a special drive to read and record that data.

Maybe all this really will converge someday. But someday looks to be a long time coming. Excuse me while I go clean the basement.